Saturday, 6 February 2016

Night Knight – God Is A Motherfucker

In the press email regarding the release of Night Knight's debut album 'God Is A Motherfucker', its frontman and lead songwriter Serafeim Giannakopoulos is described as "one of the most active musicians in the Greek underground rock scene". A claim as bold as that usually incurs derision and an inclination to avoid – but a listen to this solo effort, with foreknowledge of his drumming duties with the notorious Planet of Zeus, led me to believe it.

'God Is A Motherfucker' touts itself as a classic rock album, parts of it filling the mandate of instant, riffy, gritty AC/DC gratification – opener 'Born Again' is a bonafide straight-up rock tune, while 'Turned Back Blues' shows its hand a little early with guitar-crunch and little else. But the album has more than a few moments of real introspection and delicate care, not to mention some monumental swerves into different genres and styles. 'Turn Back Time' is a real stand-out song and a personal favourite in this case, eschewing the precedent set by the album's outset for 'In Rainbows'-y construction and soaring instrumental mid-sections. 'Us' reminds of 'You Were A Dick'-era Idaho and 'Crystal Rivers' comprises desert-blues telecaster tone a la She Keeps Bees, and all of these tracks sit in the same palette. Often, these trend-bucking tunes show up the more classically rocky tunes of the album; its title-track doesn't offer as much by the way of dynamics or progression. The album's closer 'Set It On Fire' is another personal favourite, with humbucked warmth, fuzzed melody lines, a catchy groove and an indisputably accomplished sound that demands another listen.

Individually, or even as a full suite, there's nothing particularly "innovative" in 'God Is A Motherfucker', but this is a relief – Giannakopoulos knows the cogs and devices of each genre with which he plays, and fits them together into a perfectly functioning, at times beautiful, multiform musical machine: desert rock slotted into psych, kept churning by tender indie and all powered by an inclination to good old classic heft.